India captain Shreyas Iyer decided to bowl first after calling correctly at the toss against Afghanistan in the series opener at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.
The three-match series sees Afghanistan serve as the designated hosts despite playing all the matches in India.
The visitors have struggled against India in T20Is, having lost eight of their previous nine encounters.
The teams marked the occasion with a specially designed coin, while Iyer presented Ibrahim Zadran with a commemorative jersey before play.
India have strengthened their squad with the inclusion of Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Varun Chakaravarthy.
The trio had spent considerable time away from competitive cricket while recovering from knee, quadriceps and hamstring injuries respectively.
Iyer revealed that teenage batting prospect Vaibhav Sooryavanshi did not make the final XI.
Sanju Samson returned to the opening slot alongside Abhishek Sharma, while Ishan Kishan retained the No 3 position.
Ibrahim Zadran is leading Afghanistan in T20Is for the first time and confirmed that Naveen-ul-Haq would sit out the opening match.
Zadran said the fast bowler had not regained full match fitness, and the team would assess his availability for the remaining fixtures.
The Afghan captain said his side had initially planned to bowl first but would now concentrate on building a strong batting total. He welcomed the opportunity to host India and called on supporters to back both teams during the series.
Playing XIs
India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
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